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Mr. Meacher
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will state the level of national average earnings for each year since 1979, the level of supplementary benefit/income support for a single unemployed adult aged over 25 years for each of these years, and the percentage the latter represents of the former for each year.
| A | B | C | D |
| Date of uprating | Benefit date | Average weekly earnings | Percentage of column B/column C |
| November 1979 | 18·30 | 114·10 | 16·0 |
| November 1980 | 21·30 | 135·10 | 15·8 |
| November 1981 | 23·25 | 149·50 | 15·6 |
| November 1982 | 25·70 | 160·60 | 16·0 |
| November 1983 | 26·80 | 175·30 | 15·3 |
| November 1984 | 28·05 | 187·40 | 15·0 |
| November 1985 | 29·50 | 199·50 | 14·8 |
| July 1986 | 29·80 | 210·90 | 14·1 |
| April 1987 | 30·40 | 224·00 | 13·6 |
| April 1988 | 33·40 | 245·80 | 13·6 |
| April 1989 | 34·90 | 269·50 | 12·9 |
| April 1990 | 36·70 | 295·60 | 12·4 |
| April 1991 | 39·65 | 318·90 | 12·4 |
| Explanatory Notes: | |||
| Column A: Date of each uprating. | |||
| Column B: Supplementary benefit scale rate for a 25-year-old householder from 1979 to 1987. From April 1988, this is the income support rate for a single person aged 25 or over. | |||
| Column C: Average earnings of all adult males (Source: New Earnings Survey). | |||
| Column D: Percentage of the benefit rates (Column B) compared to the average weekly earnings (Column C). | |||